Rebels and Tories at Garland's Crossing.

The Newport Rifles and Belmont Blues rushing to the defense of the hamlet at St.Croix.

Trident Riflemen & Sash & Saber AWI American Infantry

After studying the table and reviewing what troops were available, I adjusted the terrain and began making up the scenario as I went. The game  is set in an alternate history where the attempt to stir rebellion in Nova Scotia met with greater success leading to a prolonged series of campaigns. The battle should probably have been called St.Croix but somehow became named for the nearby Garland's Crossing. 

I decided not to field my existing battalions as units but instead treated them as "brigades" and fielded all units as 8 strong "companies" (apart from the Hessian Jaegers who are waiting for the 8th man to be painted). The Rebels fielded 2 "brigades" of line infantry (The Belmont Blues (24) and the Canadians (16), 2 of militia and a company of rifles plus a small home defence company occupying the village in the middle. The British were divided into a brigade with 2 light infantry units 1 regular Tory and 1 mixed Indian and Canadian Irregulars, and a brigade with 1 Loyalist Highlander, 2 Grenadier and 1 Jaeger companies.  The Americans outnumbered the British 11:6 but the British had more light units and the only Elite troops. Besides, the Brits only had to slip past the Rebels, not defeat them. In retrospect, another unit of Indians or light infantry would not have been out of place to balance the scenario. 

The armies arrive.

All that remained was to dice for the turn of arrival for the Americans. 1 d6 <= the turn number to arrive for each column. By Turn 5 all columns had arrived, and the some of the British had slogged across the ford. The Loyalists were in an bit of a funk. They stopped on the edge of the ford, blocking the path and refused to move. (A 1 on their order check followed by another when their Commander tried the Follow Me! bit, on the next turn they repeated this trick and ignored the General as well. 5 consecutive one`s!)

At last the Tories got moving but the Americans were nicely deployed, Regulars on the road facing the British, one militia regiment on their left facing the Indian infested woods, another in reserve and Rifles working their way forward on the right. The British deployed with Indians in the woods on their right, Tory skirmishers out front with the Highlanders and Hessians in line behind them and to the right a bit, and the Jaegers facing the Riflemen. Soon the roar of musketry and clouds of smoke rolled up and down the line.

The Tory skirmish line found itself trading fire with twice their numbers and winning  the fight. When the Belmont Blues got tired of it, one company made a dash forward with the bayonet. Two would have been better but they were afraid of leaving too big a hole if something went wrong. The compact formation gave them a slight advantage in numbers but with Colonel Butler at hand, the Loyalists decided to stand and won the melee 2:1. The rest of the battalion was taking heavy casualties in a firefight with the highlanders and with 2 disorders (defeated + 25%), if the defeated company rolled a 1 on its rally it would rout, leaving the brigade (regiment)  shaken. They wavered but moments later General Warner showed up and they rallied. Situation stabilized.

The Indians in the woods had a clear advantage over the militia to start with but just as they had them on the ropes, their dice went cold and finally the militia hit, once and then box cars knocked the Indians into disorder. With only a 1/3 chance of rallying, they dropped back into the woods. On the other flank, it was tit for tat but eventually it was the Hessian Jaegers who fell back in disorder to rally at a longer range. Back on the main firing line, the Canadians were tearing the right hand Hessian company to shreds while the Loyalists finally took enough hits to go disordered and fell back just as the right hand Grenadiers broke.

The Canadians wheeled around to face the Highlanders and with the rallied Blues ready to move forward, it was time to do or die. The left hand Grenadiers charged but the Highlanders hesitated. The odds were in favour of the Grenadiers but they were held to a draw and then, on the 2nd try, they were defeated with heavy casualties just as the Black Watch also took heavy hits. With the main Brigade shaken and the second one nearly so, there was no hope of forcing a way through. The British fell back over the river to lick their wounds and find another road home.  
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A bloody shambles (or righteous victory depending on which side of the table you are on.) 

The game was played solo using Hearts of Tin and took about 2 hours to set up and play. Just what I was looking for.